Sleep for the Weary, the Work is Done
by TeamImprov
Summary: Jack looks after his exhausted partner after a record-breaking long mission. Extreme fluff ahead! Set in season 2, I couldn't get this idea out of my head! Drabble originally posted on tumblr.


Jack looks after his exhausted partner after a record-breaking long mission. Extreme fluff ahead! Set in season 2, I couldn't get this idea out of my head! Drabble originally posted on tumblr.

**Sleep for the Weary, the Work is Done**

Their last mission had been a record breaking long one.

Of course Jack was used to long hours, so was Mac, but this one had been particularly hard. Jack had at least caught a few hours of sleep here and there but Mac hadn't slept a wink.

That was so often how it went with him. Jack was excellent at his job as an agent and a sharpshooter but he couldn't do what the kid could do. More often than not the success of the mission relied on Mac's ability to improvise his way through dangerous situations. It had saved all of their asses more times than Jack could count but it took a toll on Mac sometimes. It meant he couldn't relax, his brain forever working in overdrive.

Jack had known Mac for a while now and he was pretty sure there was no off switch.

They were back in the air, now. The gentle vibrations from the plane were attempting to lull Jack to sleep but he couldn't stop watching his partner.

When they were flying, it had become a kind of silent agreement between the rest of their little group that Mac would always get the couch. They all worked hard but Mac seemed to catapault through missions at warp speed, and he barely ever slept even when he wasn't on a mission, so the few z's he could catch in the air were worth it for everyone.

Right now, Mac was sitting in his usual spot but he wasn't lying down - even though from his slumped posture and hooded, bleary eyes he wasn't far from sleep. He reminded Jack a little bit of a puppy trying desperately hard not to give in even though he was so tired. Every time his eye would slide shut he would jolt back into wakefulness. A small smile tugged at Jack's lips as he watched the mighty struggle. Adorable was not a word he threw around lightly but come on, what else was he supposed to think?

Jack could have easily dozed off himself if they hadn't hit a rough patch of turbulence and Mac's slack face tightened into a grimace, his hand coming to grip at his shoulder subconsciously.

Jack stood immediately and was at his partners side in a single stride. He sat gently beside his friend and hovered a hand over Mac's against his shoulder. He was so drained that even the sudden pain hadn't woken him up.

"You okay there, bud?" Jack asked. "This from your impromptu swan dive you did out of that window into the trash cans? It looked like something out of a movie but it can't have felt good.

"Only way out." Mac said quietly.

"I know, bud, you did a good job getting out of there." Jack sighed. "Why don't you let me take a look at that shoulder and then you can get some shut eye, how does that sound, bud?"

Jack didn't wait for a reply, he simply brushed Mac's hand away and pulled down the neckline of Mac's Henley. He whistled in sympathy.

"You've got enough colors here to be a Bob Ross painting, homie. Anything feel dislocated or broken?"

"Gotta make sure the mirrors are 125 inches apart." Mac murmured.

"What's that, bud?" Jack asked softly, pressing lightly against the ball and socket joint of Mac's shoulder and then felt along his collarbone. Luckily everything seemed to be intact, it was just a lot of painful bruising.

"Putty will expand with heat, gotta be a way to fix the door so she doesn't have to be in the room."

"Mac, you with me right now?"

"If we use the siding from the houses the truck should stay insulated enough for us to get close."

"Are you talking about that oil wellhead fire in Nigeria? You already fixed that, it's okay."

Suddenly it all made sense, the oil wellhead, the mirrors from the duel bombs The Ghost planted, the mission where the college kids were on a busted ship in the middle of nowhere. Mac's brain was in constant motion and even when their missions were over he was still working through them in his head.

"You're mixing up missions, dude." Jack told him. "But you don't have to worry about them anymore. Everything is okay right now."

"I can do it, I can figure it out." Mac insisted, leaning against Jack. Jack wanted to pull away because the position had to be hell of Mac's bruised shoulder but the kid was finally starting to calm down so he let it be for now.

"I know you can, hoss, you always do."

"Gotta fix it…"

"You did," Jack said comfortingly, it didn't matter what mission his mind was replaying. Mac always did the best he could, more than anyone else would be able to. "Try to sleep, now, okay bud?"

"Kay, Jack…" Mac's voice was barely a whisper above the gentle hum of the plane's engines. Jack sat still as Mac finally dropped off into hopefully restful sleep, his head tucked against Jack's shoulder and neck and Jack felt his own head fall onto the top of Mac's before he drifted off himself, arm pulling his kid close.

If being close to Jack was all it took to quiet Mac's mind enough to rest, Jack would stay right there with him forever.

Wild horses couldn't drag him away.


End file.
